


Rewind me

by AlphaSunSun



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Established Relationship, Hale Family Feels, Home Videos, M/M, One Shot, sterek
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-04
Updated: 2013-11-04
Packaged: 2017-12-29 07:06:35
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,964
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1002407
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlphaSunSun/pseuds/AlphaSunSun
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Derek shows up with a box of home videos.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Rewind me

**Author's Note:**

> First Fic for this fandom, please don't eat me.

It had been twenty two years since the supernatural become known to humans, and eleven years since the government ended the era of ‘supernatural segregation’.  
When the walls of the compounds came down the public was divided between pro-rights and paranoia. Derek was one of the lucky ones who could barely remember being shoved in cages and forced to live in holding cells because of what they were.   
Werewolves were one of the most hated groups of supers thanks to the Argent family, a long line of hunters who had been killing his kind under the guise of defending humanity since long before knowledge of the supernatural ever became public.  
Derek was 15 when they were finally moved through processing and allowed to move back into the Hale manor. In under a year his mother Talia had regained her footing in the political circles of Beacon Hills weakening the Argents grip over the region.  
Four months after Derek’s 16th birthday there were riots all through the town, humans and supers alike protesting the ongoing discrimination of the supers under Argent rule. Two weeks later Derek woke up in the middle of the night tied to his bed to the sounds of his family screaming and choking on smoke.   
Things got a little blurry after that, the nurses in the hospital whispered about how he was lucky to be alive. He heard doctors marvelling at the wonder that was a werewolves healing ability, that if he were human he definitely wouldn't have made it out, least of all without any scaring. When he was finally discharged every magazine and paper featured a grim faced Derek Hale wearing his fathers too big leather jacket and the loss of his family on his shoulders.  
Derek still didn’t talk about his family often, didn't like to think about the things he’d lost because he didn’t win the genetic lottery and come out human. But today he’d decided maybe it was time to introduce some of the happier parts of his past to the people he had come to love in the present. 

Stiles was just finishing up a history paper when Derek slipped in through the window, a habit he’d kept from years ago when they had to sneak past Stiles father to see each other. He was out of breath and holding a plastic container to his chest tightly enough he could feel the sides of it warping. Derek himself was covered in dust; and felt like he might throw up. Stiles had stopped typing as soon as he noticed Derek was in the room, spinning around in his desk chair only to stop at the look on Derek’s face.

“Uh…Derek? Everything okay?” Stiles said. 

Derek’s eyes snapped up to meet his briefly before darting around the room, for a moment he contemplated throwing himself back out the window and putting the box back into the storage unit with the rest of his families things. Stiles was obviously worried from the way his brows furrowed as he jerkily shot out of his chair. Before Stiles could reach him though, Derek stuck his hand out and told him to give him a minute. Derek could do this, Derek wanted to do this, he wanted Stiles to be able to put faces to the names of his family on the rare occasion he talked about them. Derek was thankful that for once Stiles actually listened and stayed quiet when he clearly wanted to ask what was going on. They stood there for a few minutes in silence before Derek seemed to gather his resolve, nodded to himself, and met Stiles eyes. 

 

 

Stiles stepped forward and tugged lightly on the container and Derek tensed. When Stiles looked back up Derek’s eyes were squeezed shut as if he was in pain, but he nodded and loosened his hold so Stiles could pull it out of his hands. Derek kept his eyes closed as stiles snapped the lid open and pulled out a few of the VHS tapes inside. 

“What’s-- Derek why-?” Before he could finish his sentence, Derek surged forward and pulled Stiles into his chest, burying his face in the crook of his neck and mumbling something that sounded a lot like. “I want you to meet them.”

“Meet who? Derek what’s going on?” Stiles asked softly 

He wasn’t sure why he was whispering but something about the way Derek was acting made speaking any louder seem wrong.   
Derek briefly tightened his arms around Stiles before pulling back, he searched Stiles face for something, before he cleared his throat and said “my family.”

It took stiles a moment to understand, but glancing between Derek’s face and the box pressed between them, it dawned on him. Home movies.  
 Stiles and his dad had boxes just like this up in the attic, boxes covered in their own layers of dust- boxes that neither of them could bear to open with pictures and videos of his mom before they lost her too. 

Stiles stepped back, his eyes widening as he took in Derek’s appearance again- it wasn’t just dust covering Derek’s body and clothes- it was soot, black streaks on his pants, his cheek where he’d probably wiped a blackened hand across his face.

The old Hale house had been torn down save for bits of the foundation and a few structural beams that hadn’t been too badly damaged.

But the furniture, pieces of the house, some of the books that had weathered the years of neglect- had been put in a storage unit on the far side of town. As far as Stiles knew, after they’d locked the doors Derek had never gone back. 

Stiles grabbed Derek’s hand and pulled him through the house and into the living room. Trying to blink away the prick behind his eyes and the tightness in his throat.

Derek sat heavily on the couch and watched Stiles move around the living room, he pulled an old VCR out of the TV stand, rummaged around the drawers winding cables around his forearm as came across the one’s he needed. Saw the way Stiles body tensed after he turned the old machine on and ejected a tape that was already inside.

Stiles turned around and gave Derek a watery smile before he shrugged and explained that his mom was a fan of Alice and wonderland, and how they hadn’t really used the VCR since she died. Before he put the tape back in one o the drawers a little too gently.

 After everything was set up he left the room and came back with a stack of old blankets dropped them on the couch beside Derek before scooping the box of tapes off the floor and sitting down.

“So... Where do you want to start?” Stiles asked quietly.

“Whenever the beginning is” He answered just as softly before sliding off the couch and joining stiles on the floor. They both sorted and stacked them in various piles; those that were damaged went back in the box the rest sat in front of the TV stand. Derek carefully picked through the tapes for a couple of minutes before he found the one he wanted. 

Stiles took the first tape out of Derek’s hand and forced him back to the couch; and piled the blankets all around him, leaving a small space that he could crawl into before he put the tape reading “Laura” in fading blue ink into the VCR. 

For a few minutes they sat in silence listening to the whir of the tape rewinding.  
 The video opened with Dereks mother sitting propped up against the headboard of what was probably Derek’s parent’s bed. She looked exhausted her hair was sweat damp and her eyes heavy.  
Stiles grabbed Derek’s hand under the covers.

Derek’s uncle Peter was filming, holding the camera at an angle that suggested he wasn’t looking through the lens but instead the little bundle his sister was smiling softly at.

Derek’s father was a little off to the right and was grinning so hugely Stiles couldn’t help the little up tick of his lips either. He looked proud.

Stiles felt Derek shudder beside him and pressed in closer.

The next tape was labeled Derek in the same loopy handwriting as the first.

Laura, who couldn’t have been more than two or three was squirming out of her fathers lap her eyes bright and happy as she stared at her mother.   
Talia’s face was tear streaked and the quite smile that she directed towards the camera was so much like Derek’s, Stiles had to close his eyes.

The third was labeled Cora. 

Both Derek and Laura were standing beside the bed, clutching the blankets. Derek was only as tall as his sisters shoulder. Laura was hopping up and down in place grinning at the whole room.

Derek kept glancing between the camera and his mother, his face shifting between a glower and a pout. His uncle was the one filming again and could be heard chuckling softly in the background.

The next few were of Peter and his wife, their kids, a few cousins, birthdays, baseball games, Laura going to the compounds version of prom, and Derek glowering in the background trying to bore holes in the back of her date’s head.

Derek was crying softly two siblings later, Lillian and James were about a year apart Derek looked about 14 when his brother was born.

Stiles didn’t know how many hours had gone by when they finally got to the last tape, Derek had sobbed for the first time when the first few frames flitted across the screen. They could hear whispering and shushes as one of the younger Hales ran through the hallway carrying the camera, pointing the lens towards tiny-socked feet.  
 Lilly was giggling in the background when Peter came into view. He was leaning against the counter with a little girl balanced on his hip watching his wife light candles on a birthday cake.

James filmed them for a few minutes babbling into the microphone before Lilly dragged him into the living room where Laura was setting the table. She shooed them away with a smile saying Derek was on his way home.  
James dropped the camera a few times before Lilly growled at him and took it. The video was mostly of the youngest Hales walking around the house, Cora joining in towards the end.

Eventually Derek walked through the front door, an embarrassed frown settling on his face when Laura pinched his cheeks and his mother swept him into a hug that was obviously too tight.  
They sang, Derek opened his gifts; Laura teased him until Derek stomped off angrily, the camera catching the small smile that spread across his face when his back was turned to his sister.

Lilly and James abandoned the camera after Peter cut them each an extra slice of cake, the last few seconds were of Peter panning around the room before turning the lens on himself saying “Happy 16th birthday Derek” and the screen faded to blue.

At Peters last words Stiles felt like someone had punched him in the chest, the video must’ve been filmed just days before the fire...

Stiles tried to wipe the tears from his eyes but they reappeared every time he took his hands away. Derek’s shoulders were shaking and slow heavy drops were sliding down his face. Stiles silently pushed him back on the couch and buried his face in his chest.

Derek rolled so they were facing each other and ducked into Stiles neck breathing deeply between chocked off thank you’s and quite sobs. Stiles wrapped his arms around him and held on as tight as he could, desperately trying not to think about his mom.


End file.
